\u201cFalse,\u201d they said, \u201cthy Pale-face lover, from the land of waking morn;
\nRise and wed thy Redskin wooer, nobler warrior ne\u2019er was born;
\nCease thy watching, cease thy dreaming,
\nShow the white thine Indian scorn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus they taunted her, declaring, \u201cHe remembers naught of thee:
\nLikely some white maid he wooeth, far beyond the inland sea.\u201d
\nBut she answered ever kindly,
\n\u201cHe will come again to me,\u201d<\/p>\n
Till the dusk of Indian summer crept athwart the western skies;
\nBut a deeper dusk was burning in her dark and dreaming eyes,
\nAs she scanned the rolling prairie,
\nWhere the foothills fall, and rise.<\/p>\n
Till the autumn came and vanished, till the season of the rains,
\nTill the western world lay fettered in midwinter\u2019s crystal chains,
\nStill she listened for his coming,
\nStill she watched the distant plains.<\/p>\n
Then a night with nor\u2019land tempest, nor\u2019land snows a-swirling fast,
\nOut upon the pathless prairie came the Pale-face through the blast,
\nCalling, calling, \u201cYakonwita,
\nI am coming, love, at last.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hovered night above, about him, dark its wings and cold and dread;
\nNever unto trail or tepee were his straying footsteps led;
\nTill benumbed, he sank, and pillowed
\nOn the drifting snows his head,<\/p>\n
Saying, \u201cO! my Yakonwita call me, call me, be my guide
\nTo the lodge beyond the prairie\u2014for I vowed ere winter died
\nI would come again, beloved;
\nI would claim my Indian bride.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYakonwita, Yakonwita!\u201d Oh, the dreariness that strains
\nThrough the voice that calling, quivers, till a whisper but remains,
\n\u201cYakonwita, Yakonwita,
\nI am lost upon the plains.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Silent Spirit hushed him, lulled him as he cried anew,
\n\u201cSave me, save me! O! beloved, I am Pale but I am true.
\nYakonwita, Yakonwita,
\nI am dying, love, for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leagues afar, across the prairie, she had risen from her bed,
\nRoused her kinsmen from their slumber: \u201cHe has come to-night,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cI can hear him calling, calling;
\nBut his voice is as the dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen!\u201d and they sate all silent, while the tempest louder grew,
\nAnd a spirit-voice called faintly, \u201cI am dying, love, for you.\u201d
\nThen they wailed, \u201cO! Yakonwita.
\nHe was Pale, but he was true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wrapped she then her ermine round her, stepped without the tepee door,
\nSaying, \u201cI must follow, follow, though he call for evermore,
\nYakonwita, Yakonwita;\u201d
\nAnd they never saw her more.<\/p>\n
Late at night, say Indian hunters, when the starlight clouds or wanes,
\nFar away they see a maiden, misty as the autumn rains,
\nGuiding with her lamp of moonlight
\nHunters lost upon the plains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-54","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/54\/revisions\/302"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/54\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}